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October 10, 1935 ~ August 9, 2020

ABBEVILLE — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, August 15, 2020 at St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Catholic Church honoring the life of Joyce Carter, 84, who died Sunday, August 9, 2020 at Our Lady of Lourdes Heart Hospital. She will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery in Delcambre with Fr. François Sainte-Marie officiating the services.
Although Joyce never had any children of her own, she was blessed with the privilege of raising two of her nieces, Betty Williams and Margaret Edmond.
She is survived by her brother, Earnest Broussard; sister, Lois Bonnet; step-sister, Mary Trahan; and a host of nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oleus Broussard; three brothers, Chester Broussard, Roy Broussard, and Curley Broussard; and three sisters, Dorothy Broussard, Irene Fontenott, and Daisy Hill.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Saturday, August 15, 2020 from 9:00 AM until 10:45 AM when the procession will depart for the church.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

ERATH — Funeral services for Nursie Jane Bourque, 71, will be held Saturday, August 15, 2020 at 1:00 PM in Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Erath, with Deacon Bill Vincent officiating. Burial will follow in Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Cemetery.
Visitation will be held Saturday August 15, 2020 from 8:30 AM until time of services, with a Rosary recited at 12:00 PM.
Jane was a native and lifelong resident of Vermilion parish; she will be remembered as living life to the fullest never complaining and being very resilient. Her favorite thing in life was spending time with and spoiling her grandchildren. Jane passed away Thursday August 13, 2020 surrounded by her loving family, after a long battle with Metastatic Breast Cancer.
Survivor include lifelong companion of 36 years Eno Romero; her daughter Robin and husband Christopher Hebert; her grandchildren Isaiah and Jeremiah Hebert; her mother Gertie Primeaux; her siblings Charles Bourque, Gregory Mire, Sandra and her husband Sylvester Willis, Rachel Romero, Deneen and husband George Boutros, Vonda and her husband Michael Boutros, and Tracy Mire.
Jane was preceded in death by her father Eulus Bourque; and maternal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Martin Primeaux.
The family wishes to thank the Cancer Center of Abbeville General and the staff of NSI Home Health and Hospice, and a very special thanks to her followers #janesrackpack
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.davidfuneralhome.org
“In order to help keep the community safe we will honor the July 13, 2020 Louisiana Mandates.  All families and their guests are required to wear a face covering while at the funeral home.  Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.”
David Funeral Home 209 E. Putnam St. Erath LA 337-937-0405 is in charge of arrangements.

Abbeville residents can now visit a painted obstacle course at the Vermilion Parish Library.
Mandy Armentor, LSU AgCenter regional coordinator and area nutrition agent, and Anna Barras, LSU AgCenter nutrition educator, saw an opportunity to help keep Vermilion residents active during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Vermilion Parish Library system has been one of our long-standing partners, but we didn’t get to do our normal summer programming this year due to COVID-19,” Armentor said. “We know that people are still looking for ways to be active with their kids and figured this would be a great opportunity to offer free and fun physical activity for our community.”
The obstacle course features colorfully painted designs that indicate where visitors should zigzag, hop, spin, jump, balance and march. Armentor and Barras also stenciled a “mirror me” game that allows children to mirror a partner’s dance steps.
“Children in our area already use our parking lot to ride bikes, so we knew there would be kids around to use the play space once it was painted on the sidewalk,” said Sue Trahan, a librarian for the Vermilion Parish Library. “I have heard positive feedback from patrons who have come by to drop off books in our book drop and have seen the obstacle course. One family came back just to let her kids run through it a couple of times besides the times she has come by to drop off books.”
The main library branch is located in a limited-resource neighborhood where most parents both work and the children come to the branch during the day to hang out, Trahan said.
Since the library has been closed to the public for most of the year, staffers jumped at the opportunity to offer the community some sort of outside activity at their branches.
“It’s so important for families to be active together, especially with kids having less access their normal activities that keep them moving,” said Jessica Stroope, AgCenter physical activity specialist. “Keeping active helps improve concentration, reduce anxiety and depression, and improve overall moods.”
The temporary play space can be accessed at the library at 405 E. St Victor St. in Abbeville. Even though the branch building is closed to the public right now, patrons are encouraged to visit the obstacle course for some physical activity while arranging drop off or pick up of library items.
To learn more about this painted play space, contact Armentor at marmentor@agcenter.lsu.edu.

For the past several years, Abbeville officials have made it a common practice to hold a meeting to review the city’s finances after the first six months of the year.
In 2020, the first half of the year has looked anything but common.
Still, even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, there are some aspects of the financial report that mirror past years. Steven Moosa, a CPA with Darnall, Sikes & Frederick, updated the City Council during a finance committee meeting on Aug. 4.
“We look at the first six months in a year,” Moosa said, “to get an idea of where we are running.”
Sales tax revenue is running a bit ahead of ‘19. When including the half-cent sales tax passed by voters in ‘19 to provide raises for employees, sales tax collection has totaled $2.47 million so far this year. That is ahead of the $2.1 million budgeted for the first half of this year. Take away the $706,000 the half-cent sales tax has generated for raises, and sales tax revenue is around $1.76 million.
“That is comparable to last year,” Moosa said. “We’re just over budget by about 2% from last year, not counting the new half-cent sales tax.
“Our sales tax revenue has stayed steady for the first six months of the year.”
The new tax has served its purpose well in covering raises given in January to members of the Abbeville Police Department, the Abbeville Fire Department and municipal employees. Of the nearly $800,000 brought in by the tax, going back to the fourth quarter of ‘19, the city has used $555,000 for raises and expenses related to those raises during the first half of this year.
“We have an excess of $244,000 in that fund,” Moosa said. “That was anticipated. We know over the years we will have raises and inflation. Costs will go up. We anticipated covering that for at least the first 15 years.
“It’s working out pretty close to what we projected.”
Other revenues have not quite met projections. Water revenue is at $929,377, against a budget of $937,500. However, it is up $27,000 versus the first six months of ‘19. Sewer revenues are around 1% under budget.
Electrical revenues have been most impacted. At $1,754,561 collected, electrical revenues are $270,439 less than what the city budgeted. That is also $121,010 short of what was collected during the first half of last year.
“Demand has been down,” Moosa said. “That has been a trend in the past four years. Our demand is down 11%, but our revenue is only down 6%. We have made adjustments.”
Moosa said electrical revenues will be closely monitored as the year progresses.
“Usually July and August are your hotter months,” Moosa said. “We should catch up a little bit. I’m not sure if we will catch up all the way.”
Moosa said with the way this year has brought so much uncertainty, the first half the of the year for Abbeville is not that bad.
“There were some pleasant surprises,” Moosa said. “Expenses have been held in check. Sales tax has been flat. We will continue to monitor that. Those are hard to predict. July was actually up, so we hope that continues.”
Mayor Mark Piazza said the city will continue to monitor spending.
“We have to monitor overtime and budget spending very, very closely,” Piazza said.
Councilman Francis Touchet Jr., who chairs the finance committee, could not attend the meeting on Aug. 4. He did say in a message prior to the meeting that the city will indeed keep a close eye on finances, and make proper adjustments where needed.
“We are needing to watch the next quarter,” Touchet said. “Sales tax may drop due to the uncertainty of school openings and unemployment amounts dropping. We can always cut back on projects for capital improvements but are obligated to employee raises.
“We as a team will monitor and get through this trying time.”